Monday, 31 May 2021

“...Resembling Humanoid, Leafless Shrubs, Complete With Limbs And A Head.”

“They could root themselves in soil, becoming indistinguishable from regular, dead shrubs.”

This 32mm scale resin print of a Twig Fiend is produced by "Rocket Pig Games", but actually 3D printed by “FullyCycled” over on “Etsy”. The model is one of several test prints I recently bought in order to see just how well such figures can currently be manufactured, and as part of an ever-growing homemade project pitting the forces of a Clockwork Mage against those of the Natural World.

The figure comes on an incredibly large pre-printed stand which contains a serious smattering of smooth rocks, and is the only place where the tell-tale striation signs of a 3D print are visible. Luckily, despite its width, the stand laid reasonably flat, so I was able to ‘squeeze’ the wood-based creature on a “Citadel” 60mm circular base.

A Grave Gnasher summons a Twig Fiend to battle a rampaging Tin Construct.

Unfortunately, I did have one mishap with the miniature whilst I was cleaning off some support struts from it. The monster’s resin is surprisingly brittle, so as I was desperately trying to smooth down one of its head-tendrils with my modelling knife, the entire tentacle-like branch snapped off and flew across my hobby room.

Despite some desperate searching I was unable to locate the missing piece, so was forced to think somewhat creatively as craft a replacement part. My ability with Green-Stuff is not great, so I started searching around my bitz looking for a suitably curly tentacle or some such. Happily, what I did spy was one of the resin staff ends belonging to a Mindflayer, which whilst not quite as curly as I’d hoped, did provide me with enough bend to somewhat fit in with the rest of the Twig Fiend’s tendrils.

Once this piece had been whittled down at one end in order to fit inside a small hole I drilled into the brute’s back, it was super-glued in place. I then gave the entire figure a double coat of “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna, and shaded it with a mixture of “Citadel” Agrax Earthshade and The Army Painter" Strong Tone Quickshade.

"Kitbash Games" WIPs - Immolator is slowly having all of her detail 'picked out'

The creature’s bark was later dry-brushed with (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Sienna and some “Earth”. I ‘picked out’ the monster’s tendrils with “Vallejo” Heavy Green and “Citadel” Biel-Tan Green, before giving them a soft dry-brush of (more) “Vallejo” Heavy Green. I did consider dotting the Twig Fiend’s eyes with a fluorescent green. But ultimately liked the look of the dark, deeply recessed sockets.

Having completed another of my “Rocket Pig Games” 3D printed models, I have been busy pigmenting my resin figure of Immolator by “Kitbash Games”. This character is actually a yellow-coloured alien villainess in the “Supers Unlimited” pantheon. However, I wanted to use her as an American heroine for my Weird War Two games, so have greatly diverted from the model’s ‘official’ palette.

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